A byproduct of our study design is the idea that asking people to con- sider awareness of potential vulnerability of their positions may boost threat and resistance, suggesting a new protocol for inoculation-based campaigns.

Josh Compton & Bobi Ivanov

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08934215.2012.661018

Threat plays a pivotal role in many theoretical explanations for how inoculation confers resistance, but some empirical data raise questions about threat’s role in inoculation. Our study explores some of the unresolved dimensions of threat in inoculation theory. Results indicate that an explicit forewarning included in an inoculation treatment message generates threat, as does the presence of counterarguments and their refutations. Follow-up tests suggest that the forewarning component may be most responsible for generated threat in inoculation, and that a prompt to consider experienced threat may lead to enhanced resistance to subsequent attack messages.

Compton, J., & Ivanov, B. (2012). Untangling threat during inoculation theory–conferred resistance. Communication Reports, 25(1), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2012.661018